We recently connected with LISA VOSSEN and have shared our conversation below.
LISA, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
There are so many things that come to mind when asked what is the craziest part of owning my business. Small business comes with many ups and downs, from life events, economy, clientele, merchandise supply and all the costs involved. How my business began is a crazy in a positive way. In 2008 when the economy crashed, I lost my job in the mortgage industry. With all the layoffs and declining economy I decided to open a boutique. Crazy, right! I opened my first location in my home town, it was lacking anything for shopping that was fun and unique. And I just knew there was a need for it. So Pink Door began from there. I quickly found my footings in my community and was really welcomed by everyone (well minus a few lol) I met. As if starting a business in 2008 with all of its challenges wasn’t hard enough, after just a year in, I was faced with a near death from a car accident. Yup, I survived many horrific injuries to my body, died a few times during it, but my inner strength is what I believe kept me fighting to live. That story is way too long for this interview, but necessary part of the story. During my time in the hospital, my store remained open because of friends and community members I had already impacted in my short time being open. Without them, Pink Door would have died in 2009. Add on a near decade of many ups and downs, the should I stay open, is it time to move on and get a real job, you get the picture. I decided to move my store to the big city. I was SCARED to say the least. In 2018 my new location opened and once again, I found a new community opened up to me. I was loving my new “home”, it was thriving, growing bugger than it had yet, until the pandemic hit in 2020. Like many of us, our lives changed over night. I have been a fighter my entire life, and here I was once again faced with a huge fight. The fight for my business and livelihood. My landlord sold the building, to a redeveloper. I guess their idea of towering multimillion dollar condos was more important (hey I get money is money) than keeping the charm of this shopping and dining destination. Not only was I forced to close due to the pandemic, I was now forced out of my store. For good. This was one of the scariest things I endured. It was awful, I would use vulgar language to describe my actual feelings, but I will keep it PG. Now what, how would I provide for myself, did I dare go into another lease and risk losing it all again. I decided that was not an option for me. I had stressed myself out for over a decade, I was done with that part. I decided to move to an online boutique during many stages of the pandemic. Meaning, it did not happen over night. I had a lot to face, fix, figure out, on and on, before I could have a live website. So here I am now, in 2023 trying to build an online presence. That is not easy. I find this harder than a brick and mortar. I also miss being creative daily merchandising my space, it was cute. Mostly I miss the interaction with my clients. I have made countless friends having Pink Door. That has been more lucrative than the actual income part. I do not know what the future holds for Pink Door, one day at a time. I love what I created, it has been a passion and gift in my life. At times a giant pain the you know what. I know you asked for one thing here, but I think it is interesting to hear the ups and downs of it. Nothing in life comes easy, work hard, be kind, live with passion and I believe it will all work out the way it was meant to.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As for much of this question, a lot was divulged in my first question, which I got lengthy with, oops. When I opened Pink Door, I knew it needed to carry unique things. The malls are so cookie cutter, and we do need that too, but to really get excited about a purchase, that is another level. Whether it is for ourselves or a gift, there is something so satisfying about finding that “things”. I always stayed true to what I loved and believed was a good product. Often we were the first to carry a new line, a lot from other small businesses getting started. Many of those brands, I see today at so many boutiques, so kudos to them. We feel pretty cool to have been the first for many. I felt that my main problem solving skill for my clients was to get them out of their comfort zone. Upping their closet game with clothing they never would have tried on. But pieces that made them look and feel like a new person. I know that is why most of them have come back year after year. They trust me, and I do not take that for granted. I would be doing myself a disservice if I just “sold” them something to make a buck. I didn’t pour my life and soul into this, to just be okay at what I do. And I do believe I have achieved that and more. One little side note about Pink Door, something I have always thought was a huge compliment, has to do with our wrapping. Our signature brown shopping bag with pink tissue and ribbon, has made itself recognizable to so many. I am not Tiffany’s, lol, but to hear from my clients, that they say for example had a birthday party, and they had Pink Door bags on the table, that they knew it was going to be amazing and the excitement they had knowing where it came from. Pretty cool I would say!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
To start I bought the book, small business for dummies, I had no idea what I was doing. From there I wrote what I thought was a stellar business plan. And it was to many banks. However, I found it near impossible to get that funding. Perhaps the timing was bad, the year was 2008 and no one wanted to loan money. So after a lot of disappointment, I was blessed with a family member that trusted in me. Between his generosity and a little savings, I was able to pull it off. I am also blessed to have a pretty handy and talented family, so to save a TON of money, we did the buildout ourselves. Memories I will say are priceless. We had so much fun, it never felt like work. Wow, I am going down memory lane here with some of these question. Fun!
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
I am so new to Ecommerce. As a result of the pandemic I had to pivot my business. I decided to start with Shopify, their platforms are pretty user friendly and also track inventory. That was a huge plus in my decision. So while I like the platform, an Ecommerce, is so much more challenging that I thought. And again by that I mean, how do you get the traffic! While I have many loyal followers, they were my in store clients, I am struggling with getting them to shop online. As well as gain new traction online. I found opening a brick and mortar, which is also scary, to be so much easier to get sales. I know I have a lot to learn yet, since I have only been on Ecommerce for 6 months. In time I hope I can say it is a smashing success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pinkdoormn.com/
- Instagram: @pinkdoomn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PINKDOORMN